Bensayah Belkacem
| place_of_birth = Ourgla, Algeria | date_of_death = | place_of_death = | detained_at = Guantanamo | id_number = 10001 | group = | alias = | charge = no charge | penalty = | status = still in captivity | occupation = clergyman | spouse = | parents = | children = }} Bensayah Belkacem is a citizen of Bosnia, currently held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. He was born in Algeria, and arrested in his home in Bosnia, on October 8, 2001, shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001.Man linked to Bin Laden arrested in Bosnia, The Guardian, October 8, 2001 As of today Bensayah Belkacem has been confined at the Guantanamo camps for . He arrived there on January 21, 2002 and he has been held without trial or charge since. mirror Belkacem and five other men, charity workers, who were colleagues of his, who were also born in Algeria, were under suspicion of plotting to bomb the American embassy in Bosnia. Bosnia: Algerian Trial Jeopardised, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, December 7, 2001 American intelligence officials had grown alarmed by an increase in the "chatter". After his extrajudicial capture it was reported that a search of his home turned up pro-jihadist material.Terrorist material found in Sarajevo charity raid, The Guardian, February 23, 2002 Detention in Cuba Bensayah was one of the first Guantanamo detainees who was able to get a letter out describing the conditions there. In a letter his wife received in June 2002 he said that the detainees no longer had to defecate and urinate into plastic bags. The camp authorities had provided them with toilets. Combatant Status Review A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his tribunal. The memo accused him of the following: | title=Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal Belkacem, Bensayah | date=September 24, 2004 | publisher=Department of Defense | author=Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants | accessdate=2007-08-19 }} cell phone number in Afghanistan. :#The detainee had phone conversations with Abu Zubaydah, a senior al Qaida aide to Usama Bin Laden pertaining to procuring passports. :#The detainee made 70 phone calls to Afghanistan between September 11, 2001 and the time he was arrested. :#The detainee was being investigated under the criminal acts for international terrorism in Bosnia. :#The detainee was identified as the primary al Qaida facilitator in Bosnia. :#In late September 2001 the detainee in Bosnia Herzegovina planned to join jihadist elements in Afghanistan in anticipation of the United States/coalition invasion and encouraged other Algerians to do the same. :#On 1 October 2001, the detainee applied for a visa in Sarajevo, Bosnia - Herzegovina for onward travel to Afghanistan. :#The detainee, prior to planned departure to Iran/Afghanistan, was to assist the mid-October 2001 arrival of unidentified travelers from Afghanistan. :#The detainee planned to coordinate from Tehran, Iran the late October 2001 travel to Bosnia-Herzegovina of an additional 30-40 travelers from Afghanistan. }} Detainee election form Bensayah Belkacem's Detainee election form states his Personal Representative met with him for two hours on September 27, 2004—one day before his Tribunal first convened. The only comment his Personal Representative recorded from that two hour meeting was: The Unclassified summary of basis for Tribunal decision records that his Personal Representative made no comments, and asked no questions during either the classified or unclassified sessions of the Tribunal. And, when asked to comment on the Tribunal his Personal Representative had no comments. Unclassified summary of basis for Tribunal decision Bensayah Belkacem's Tribunal first convened on September 28, 2004. He did not choose to attend his Tribunal. His status was confirmed by Tribunal panel 6. According to the Unclassified summary of basis for Tribunal decision his Tribunal considered six unclassified documents which included allegations that were not summarized on the Summary of Evidence presented to him beforehand: : Two of documents were segments of newspaper articles. The articles were initially unidentified. The Recorder was directed to find the source of those documents. The Recorder was able to find the whole context of just one articles. The decision basis memo says the Tribunal ignored the other document. The identified newspaper article seems to be the source of the additional allegations the Tribunal considered. The Unclassified summary of basis for Tribunal decision recorded that the recorder submitted seven classified documents during the classified session of the Tribunal, and that: The recorder prepared seven additional classified documents, and the Tribunal reconvened on October 1, 2004. An article from Time magazine, from its November 12, 2001 issue, contained a sidebar entitled, "The Suspects: A Bosnian Subplot". This sidebar contained the additional allegations that Bensayah Belkacem's Tribunal took seriously, specifically: *it alleged that records of a wiretapped conversation between Belkacem and another Bosnia. : *It stated: : *It stated investigators found: : Senad Slatina who wrote with a Sarajevo byline of Belkacem's arrest. Slatina wrote: : Slatina's article reported that Time, and other reports, had stated that Belkacem had made 70 mobile phone calls to Afghanistan. Time had written that these calls had been made between the al Qaeda attack on September 11, 2001 and his arrest on October 8, 2001. Slatina's article said other media reports had stated that the mobile phone calls had been spread over the previous calendar year. Slatina wrote that the Bosnian Police investigation found no sign that Belkacem owned a mobile phone. Slatina wrote that Belkacem, who "lived modestly", shared his landlord's landline. And that his phone bill had not exceeded $9 per month in any month in the previous year. Concerning the report that a slip of paper found in his apartment contained Abu Zubaydah's mobile phone number Slatina wrote: : Slatina quoted Tomislav Limov, Bosnia's deputy interior minister, who was confident Bosnia had sufficient evidence to justify the Bosnian's arrest. Additional documents On 22 November 2004 James R. Crisfield wrote an "Addendum legal sufficiency review of Combatant Status Review Tribunal for detainee ISN # #####" : : Bensayah Belkacem v. George W. Bush A writ of habeas corpus, Bensayah Belkacem v. George W. Bush, was submitted on Bensayah Belkacem's behalf. In response, on 12 October 2004 the Department of Defense released 40 pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. Declined to testify on behalf of Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar Another detainee from Bosnia, Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar, asked his Personal Representative to ask Bensyah Belkacem to testify at his Tribunal.detainees ARB|Set_7_0741-0887.pdf#16}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 16-24 Bensayab declined. First annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Bensayah Belkacem's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 28 December 2005. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention. The following primary factors favor continued detention The following primary factors favor release or transfer and Haramay organizations. He stated the Saudi High Commission could not be a bad organization. :g. The detainee reported he heard of al Qaida and that Usama bin Laden was the leader but he knew this from the media reports }} Second annual Administrative Review Board A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Bensayah Belkacem's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 19 November 2006. The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention. The following primary factors favor continued detention and supported himself and several other former Mujahedin families in Bosnia. :#In September 2001 the detainee planned to travel to join jihadist elements in Afghanistan in anticipation of the United States/Coalition invasion and the detainee encouraged his Algerian friends to do the same. The detainee applied for an Iranian visa in Sarajevo, Bosnia for onward travel to Afghanistan. :#The detainee was identified and detained by a Foreign government on suspicion of terrorist activities. :#The detainee was identified as the primary al Qaida facilitator in Bosnia. :#The detainee was known for his ties to the Chechen movement during 1999 and reportedly had a connection to an Usama bin Laden operative. :b. Connections/Associations :#When the detainee was detained in October 2001, he possessed numerous phone numbers that linked him to Usama bin Laden's operational network in Afghanistan and the global Sunni extremist network. :#When the detainee was detained in Octobre 2001, he also possessed the number of a Bosnian locksmith who was employed at the United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Further investigation revealed that the locksmith was the father-in-law of a known Armed Islamic Group member. :c. Other Relevant Data :#An open source reported that the detainee, also known to be the leader of a group in Algeria, had 3.5 million Marks of Bosnian currency deposited in a bank of Sarajevo, Bosnia, and several other members of the group had millions also deposited in banks. The open source reported that an investigation revealsed the High Saudi Committee had on its payroll almost all of the members of the group from Algeria, which had links to international terrorism. }} The following primary factors favor release or transfer name Abu Majd. :b. The detainee stated he never associated with any terrorists or anyone who wanted to hurt the United States. The detainee never worked with al Harman or al Furquan, although he has heard of al Furquan. :c. The detainee stated he never had any problems with the police anywhere aside from his arrest in Bosnia in October 2001 for allegedly plotting to attack the United States Embassy there. :d. The detainee denied involvement in a plot to blow up the United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia. The detainee stated the Bosnian Government said that there was no case against him and that he would be sent back to Algeria. :e. The detainne denies every having a bank account in Bosnia. :f. The detainee denied being involved in the facilitating of fraudulent passports for others; the only involvement he had with fraudulent passports was that concerning his own fraudulent Yemeni passport. :g. The detainee stated he did not know much of anything about the al Farquan and Haramayn organizations, and that he never heard of either organization being extremist. The detainee stated the Saudi High Commission could not be a bad because it was run by the Saudi Royal Family. :h. The detainee stated he knew from the media reports of al Qaida and that Usama bin Laden was the leader, but he never heard of al Qaida operating in Bosnia. :i. The detainee stated he would swear on the Koran again that he had nothing to do with al Qaida and has been telling the truth throughout his interrogations. :j. The detainee denies any involvement with a Usama bin Laden operative, Bosnian Mujahedin members and other Algerian-Bosnians suspected of involvement with planning an attack against the United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia. }} Continued detention On 21 October 2008 US District Court Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of the 5 Algerians held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and the continued detention of a sixth, Belkacem Bensayah." Appeal of Judge Leon's ruling On September 15, 2009 a three judge panel from the DC Court of appeals started to review Leon's ruling. The panel ruled that their hearings would be held entirely in-camera. Accroding to the Blog of Legal Times Marc Fleming, of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, one of Bensayah's lawyers partially declassified brief to the appeal court had challenged Leon's reasoning because he had relied on “unfinished, conclusory intelligence reports and uncorroborated assertions from anonymous sources.” Fleming brief had challenged Leon's ruling because he had not required the government to search for exculpatory evidence. Fleming asserted that when the government had conducted its search the classified evidence it provided to him in April 2009 eroded the government's allegations. In late June, the panel reversed Leon's ruling, holding that Bensayah could not be considered a member of al-Qaeda. Judge Douglas H. Ginsburg, writing for the panel, said that there was "no direct evidence" of any communication between Bensayah and any al-Qaeda member. Ginsburg noted that the Obama administration had backed away from several arguments the Bush administration had made to Leon, including claims he'd communicated with Abu Zubaydah.Savage, Charlie. Appeals court sides with detainee. The New York Times, 2010-07-04. References External links * Guantánamo and Habeas Corpus: Prisoners Win 3 out of 4 Cases, But Lose 5 out of 6 in Court of Appeals (Part Two) Andy Worthington July 27, 2010 * Judge Ginsburg ruling from June 28,2010 * Bosnian government seen covering up naturalized citizens, terrorist suspects *Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010) * * * Category:Algerian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Category:Living people Category:People held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp Category:1962 births Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Algerian descent